Grace to bring disqualification case to SC today

MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Sen. Grace Poe is set to elevate to the Supreme Court (SC) today the legal issues involving her eligibility to run for president in the May 2016 elections.

Poe’s lawyer George Garcia said they would file a petition assailing the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in full session last week disqualifying Poe from the presidential race over residency and citizenship issues.

Garcia hinted that their petition would prove that the poll body committed grave abuse of discretion in disqualifying Poe.

He maintained that Poe is a natural-born Filipino and has met the 10-year residency requirement, making her eligible to run for president. 

“We will ask the Supreme Court to immediately issue a status quo ante order for the Comelec to keep Senator Poe’s name in the ballot pending resolution of the case on merits,” he said in an interview.

Garcia said they would also urge the high court to immediately act on their urgent prayer given the time constraint in the Comelec’s preparations for the general elections in May next year even if the justices are on holiday recess.

“We have to get the SC order by Tuesday because we are given only five days from promulgation of the ruling under Comelec rules,” he explained.

SC spokesman Theodore Te bared earlier that the SC may act on Poe’s case even while on recess because the rules allow the Chief Justice to issue a status quo ante order or a temporary restraining order upon recommendation of the justice in charge of the case and subject to confirmation of the full court in their next session on Jan.12, 2016.

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Poe does not even need to hurry in securing an order from the SC to stop the Comelec from disqualifying her because at this time the poll body is merely preparing “conditional ballots” to enable candidates and political parties to check possible errors before final printing.

Last week, the Comelec dismissed the motion for reconsideration that Poe filed on the rulings of its first and second divisions.

The Comelec first division, in its decision on Dec. 11, disqualified Poe based on the petitions filed by De La Salle University professor Antonio Contreras, former senator Francisco Tatad, and former University of the East College of Law dean Amado Valdez.

The second division, on the other hand, unanimously voted on Dec. 1 to disqualify Poe based on the petition of former Government Service Insurance System chief legal counsel Estrella Elamparo.

Earlier this month, Rizalito David filed a petition questioning the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) decision declaring Poe a natural-born Filipino eligible to run for senator in the 2013 polls and to continue serving as senator.

The SC held a special session last Dec. 16 on this case and ordered the SET to answer the petition. It set oral arguments on Jan.19, 2016.  

Macalintal said there is a possibility that the SC will consolidate all the cases against Poe to expedite the resolution.

“If that happens, we could expect a final decision from the SC not later than the end of February 2016 just in time for a full determination of the issue of whether or not Poe’s name will be in the ballots,” he added.

If the case at the SET and the cases at the Comelec are not consolidated and the SC finds in the SET case that Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen, Macalintal said Poe would retain her position as senator and the Comelec case involving the issue of her being a natural-born Filipino will be dismissed. But the case involving her residency would still be pursued.

But if SC reverses the SET decision and holds that Poe is not a natural-born Filipino, then the Comelec could exercise its motu propio power and implement its decision of disqualifying Poe from running for president for not being a natural-born Filipino. – With Mayen Jaymalin